The Wray farmer, one of six Republicans running for governor, urged the commission to reject new regulations that would hurt Colorado’s energy industry and put an unfair burden on rural communities. The Senate Minority Office provided a copy of his remarks:

Thank you for the chance to share some thoughts about the methane rule.

I am Greg Brophy, a state senator representing 11 counties on the eastern plains of Colorado.

First of all, I think it is important for this commission — and just the same, for all the environmental activists present here today — to acknowledge that America’s skies are cleaner, they are healthier, they shine a little brighter and bluer each and every day including today because of the enlarged role that natural gas plays in powering the American economy.

That’s right, our skies are cleaner today with many more people living here than they were years ago. Glad that Colorado’s skies are cleaner than ever? Hug a fracker. The natural gas they produce is one of the reasons why.

The true flat earthers in the American energy debate are the extreme environmental groups who make wildly exaggerated claims about the climate impacts of greenhouse gases, while at the very same time doing everything in their power to stop natural gas development — the energy source that is actually reducing all emission types, including carbon.

Flat earthers, thy name is the Sierra Club.

In that sense, I hope this Commission won’t be swayed by the flat earthers here today arguing for a one size fits all air standard. This attempt to punish rural Colorado for the traffic congestion and smog in Denver and Boulder is part and parcel of a wider war that’s being waged against rural Colorado.

Colorado Air Quality Control Commission, don’t be party to this war on rural Colorado. Don’t be swayed by the flat earthers in the Sierra Club and Conservation Colorado[7]. Find balance, trust the science. Use your common sense.

Don’t punish rural Colorado for pollution in Denver and Boulder.

We might be the first state in the nation to cloud our skies with marijuana smoke, but let’s not become the first state in the nation to regulate methane.